Scholars of German Reception Aesthetics have studied literary reception processes. However, their concept of the reader was rather abstract and text-based. Conversely, the sociology of reception has focused on social mechanisms and conditions outside the text. The theory of cultural transfer, as well as Bourdieu's propositions concerning the international circulation of ideas bring to the fore the decisive role of the fields of reception. The present case study of the Western Swiss author Jean-Luc Benoziglio shows various facets of international literary reception. It compares the reactions to the French work and its German translations in Switzerland, France and Germany. In spite of an early positive resonance, no work has been translated into German after 1993. Economic reasons, but also a stagnating interest in French avant-garde literature may explain this.
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